Borat’s Karma

I saw Borat the other night and will confess I laughed so hard I got a headache and a sore throat. I have also been a fan of Da Ali G Show on HBO. The humor of Sascha Baron Cohen is based on discomfort. He puts people into uncomfortable situations (chickens on the subway, photos of his “son’s” penis, shit at a dinner party) and it’s funny because of the incongruity. There’s a lot of meanness and cruelty in certain humor and Cohen has it down pat. It is amusing when he gets someone like Bob Barr or, on the TV show, James Baker or James Lipton, in an uncomfortable position. It’s edgy and dangerous as Cohen learned the other night when a New Yorker punched him out after Cohen/Borat suggested he would like to have sex with the guy’s coat. Cohen relies on the basic friendliness and decency of people, and his own personal charm, to escape harm. Didn’t work last Saturday. Now the film is facing lawsuits from the frat boys and the Romanian villagers. Reading the news reports it was hard for me to be sympathetic with the frat boys. I could gin up a bit of empathy for the poor Romanian village. But read this about the hotel desk guy (Vanilla Face in the film) and you might begin to question the disingenuousness, even deceitfulness, of Borat’s methods. Cohen’s humor is very funny to watch. Probably not so much fun to be on the receiving end. I’m now a bit embarrassed. My guess is with all the publicity from Borat, Bruno will have a tougher time getting his film made.